| The [UK] government has ordered an investigation into the activities of an arms dealer exposed by The Scotsman last week for attempting to sell aircraft and weapons to the Sudanese government. The British businessman, John Knight, admitted that he tried to broker a deal to supply Antonov planes - of a type used by the Khartoum regime to bomb its own people in Darfur - and large numbers of other weapons at a time when the ethnic cleansing in Darfur was at its height. Now an investigation has been ordered into whether he should face criminal prosecution...In an interview with The Scotsman on 18 November, the arms dealer said that as weapons had been supplied to Hitler he saw no issue in selling arms to Khartoum. He had been asked to supply 130mm field guns, T72 main battle tanks, multiple rocket launchers and semi-automatic pistols, and although these weapons were ultimately caught by the Export Control Act, he did supply Antonov AN26 transport planes. He said that he believed they would be used to drop aid. "These planes, of course, can be fitted with bomb racks." |